


Ready to fall up, ready to claim

by kriswu



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medical, Multi, Post-Divorce, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5722237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kriswu/pseuds/kriswu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Medical school was hard, having a boyfriend and marrying him while still going to medical school was harder, but if they were being honest, having to work together after a divorce, that had to be the hardest one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready to fall up, ready to claim

**Author's Note:**

> Written for selubration round 2. Emergency Couple!AU. Originally posted [here](http://selubration.livejournal.com/14403.html). Title from Coldplay's Oceans.
> 
> Finally posting this here! I didn't want to post it here simply because I wanted to add smut to it, but never got around to the actual writing, and I don't think I will. Smut is just not my thing, sorry about that.

**2014; March 03.**  
  
  
Sehun walked into the auditorium and straight to where he could see a bunch of nervous-looking people wearing light blue scrubs. He was very nervous himself, not knowing who’d he be teamed up with; he hoped they’d at least be smart people. Taking his time to walk up to them, he made his way down the large steps, focusing on his matching dark blue crocs. He thought sheepishly of Zitao, alumni from the university and a year one resident in this very hospital, who was also known all around campus because of his eclectic fashion sense. Sehun was sure he must’ve thrown a tantrum when he was told he had to wear such hideous shoes to work.  
  
“Well, well, weeell, look who’s here. I knew we were fated to be together forever!”  
  
Sehun heard a strangely familiar voice sing-sang mock sweetly from his left side, whose owner was none other than Kim Jongdae. He snorted.  
  
“I’m on team 12, you’re in my team?”  
  
He asked, not believing his luck. Jongdae was incredibly capable, despite his odd antics and incapability of being serious for more than it was strictly necessary.  
  
“As a matter of fact, I am. Chanyeol and Baekhyun, too!”  
  
Sehun’s eyes opened dramatically. “You must be kidding. That can’t be possible.”  
  
Jongdae just grinned at him.  
  
Chanyeol and Baekhyun were not exactly friends with Sehun, but they were Jongdae’s best friends. They had all met once or twice at some fancy party with paid DJs, caviar canapés and expensive alcohol. The ‘woes’ of being a medicine student and all that. If he remembered correctly, they had been dating since forever, and were just as cheeky as Jongdae. This would be fun.  
  
“There are two more team members, but they won’t reveal any name till said people are in this room,” Jongdae informed him.  
  
“Well, let’s just hope they’re not stupid,” Sehun sighed.  
  
Jongdae gave him his best ‘are you freaking kidding me’ face. “Someone stupid wouldn’t really put up with us. They would quit.”  
  
He had a point.  
  
A few minutes later, a short man with light brown hair walked into the room and right up to Jongdae and Sehun.  
  
“Is this team 12?” he asked them, giving them a blinding, yet very, very beautiful smile. Sehun heard Jongdae gasp loudly.  
  
“Uh… yeah, it is. Are you part of the team?” He asked the man, who hummed in response.  
  
“I’m Kim Junmyeon, it’s nice to meet both of you, but… aren’t there any more members in this team?” He asked, still smiling, as he held out a hand first to Sehun, then to Jongdae.  
  
Sehun shook his head. “There are, those two you see at the end of the row of seats, plus another mystery member who has yet to arrive.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
As Junmyeon went to introduce himself to Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Sehun turned to look at Jongdae and raised an eyebrow at him, “did the cat get your tongue?” Jongdae rolled his eyes at him.  
  
“No. But that man was wow. Beautiful, Sehun, didn’t you see him? Didn’t you?” He clasped both of his hands over his mouth.  
  
“You have a crush on your teammate _already_? Damn, that was fast.”  
  
Their sixth member had yet to come when the director stood up on stage to introduce himself and talk about the place they’d be jailed in for the next year and a half. He then made each team nominate a member to pick each team’s monthly schedule. All schedules were thickly covered so no one would pick what they wanted best. Oh how Sehun wished he could have seen that.  
  
As he revealed month by month, his team, with exception of Junmyeon, groaned loudly:  
  
March: E.R.  
April: E.R.  
May: E.R.  
June: E.R.  
July: Radiology  
August: I.C.U.  
  
“That’s nice. Apparently, the E.R. chief eats interns for breakfast,” Jongdae joked half-heartedly.  
  
“We’re dead, you hear me? Dead. It’s not the chief, but the place itself,” Chanyeol sighed.  
  
“I don’t see why,” everyone turned to look at Junmyeon. “What? It’s true. Don’t you think it’ll be good? We’ll be working under pressure, yes, but I think it’s better to start like this, than have to spend four months working in the Radiology department and then be thrown to the wolves only knowing how to develop and examine x-rays,” he finished, smiling at them before he started walking in the direction of the door.  
  
“He’s got some spirit, but I can see where he’s coming from. Let’s do our best,” Baekhyun whispered dejectedly, as if trying to cheer himself up.  
  
  
“Are you the team designated to the E.R. all through March?” A man much taller than them asked, face expressionless. A timid Jongdae –which was rare in itself– replied an airy ‘yes’.  
  
“Are you all mute? Why aren’t you answering? Are you the team that will be working in the E.R. during this month?” He asked again.  
  
“Yes!” Junmyeon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun shouted, Sehun joining them belatedly.  
  
“Good. I’m sure Director Choi already instructed you, so I’ll be clear and concise,” the man, who they were pretty sure was the E.R. chief, told them. His voice was husky and would almost be soothing, weren’t it for that dangerous lack of expression permanently etched onto his face.  
  
“I’m Wu Yifan, Chief Wu for you. There are only two things to know before working in my E.R.; 1. If one of you gets a bad grade, the whole team will suffer for it. It’s only fair and it’ll also help you watch out so you don’t fuck up. 2. If I decide something in the E.R., it becomes the truth, the life and the law. Do I make myself clear?”  
  
“Yes!”  
  
“Now I’ll check which ones of you are here, since I’m only seeing five faces instead of six. I think there’s been enough time for that sixth team member to show up. There are three things I can’t stand: slackers, interns who think they know everything just because they read it in a book, and people who are late.“  
  
He shuffled some papers until he found what he was looking for: the sheet of paper with the interns’ information.  
  
“Oh Sehun.”  
  
“Here,” he said, loud enough to make a few heads turn around.  
  
“Park Chanyeol.”  
  
“Park Chanyeol is here, too.”  
  
“Byun Baekhyun.”  
  
“Yes!” He shouted so energetically, the chief shot him a glare that made him recoil. Chanyeol reached out sneakily and patted him on the back.  
  
“Kim Jongdae.”  
  
“Yes, chief, I’m here.”  
  
“Kim Junmyeon.”  
  
“Here.”  
  
“Lu Han.” Sehun choked. “Is Lu Han not here?”  
  
“Excuse me, Lu Han?” Sehun asked, kicking himself mentally for even opening his mouth. Yifan hummed.  
  
“Lu Han, born in 1987. Why, do you know him?” Sehun almost faints. It couldn’t be.  
  
“No, I do not.”  
  
At that exact moment, a tiny, very familiar frame –to Sehun– came running into the E.R. Sehun cursed as he inwardly laughed bitterly at his luck, of course the timing was this shitty, of course his life had to happen like those cliché dramas the man currently in front of him loved. Of course. He wanted to scream.  
  
“Oh, my god, I am so, so sorry! Please forgive me. There was a car wreck on the way here,” Lu Han frantically explained himself to the chief. “Are you the chief? You must be. I’m really sorry! I’m sorry!” He turned to bow to his teammates, 90 degrees. That was until he saw Sehun and his face went completely white, lips and all.  
  
Sehun had never witnessed Lu Han be that polite, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. It was Lu Han he was seeing in front of him. Anime-like Lu Han, I-can-eat-three-times-more-than-you Lu Han, drama-obsessed Lu Han. His fucking ex-husband: Lu Han. Everything seemed to move in slow motion when their eyes met; while Sehun wanted to scream at everyone and ask the universe why it was so cruel to him, Lu Han wanted to run, but not without punching Sehun’s face first.  
  
“Do you think I care why you’re late? I don’t care if you had to fight Godzilla on your way here, or if Choi Young came back from year 1300 and kidnapped you, how are you so irresponsible to be late on your first day as an intern?!” Yifan raised his voice, which had been mostly emotionless and serene, as he asked Lu Han.  
  
“Why are you here? Did you think you could just come here late and have all your benefits waiting for you? You’ve got nerve,” Yifan chewed him off while pacing back and forth in front of the interns. No one dared break the silence.  
  
“You’re all dismissed, go get your coats and IDs, and get your lazy asses to work. As for you,” he turned to Lu Han and glared at him, “go change into your scrubs and get your coat and ID, too. Then come to my office. We’ll have a chat.”  
  
Sehun snickered when Yifan was out of hearing range. He walked away, completely ignoring Lu Han and his annoyed face, before he could ask him why he was here. Sehun had been born a doctor; he didn’t have to deal with mediocre things like Lu Han and his questions.  
  
Lu Han waited until the rest of the team were done in the men’s locker to change his clothes. He was both grateful and on the verge of having a mental breakdown. He’d always had bad luck, but this was a new level. He was sure fate was working against him; first, he’d been late, and then he’d seen the last person he could ever want to see, not only in his same place of work, but also, working in his team. He wondered what wrong he’d done in his life to deserve this.  
  
“Endure,” he told himself, “you have to endure this. It’s just a year and a half, not your whole life, like it could have been. Men don’t cry nor do they quit when things get ugly. Endure it. Man the fuck up, Lu Han.”  
  
He splashed his face with water and left the room before making his way to nurse station. He asked one of them –the one who looked less likely to punch him if he asked her– where to find the office; she explained easily. He thanked her and made his way, hoping the chief wouldn’t be too hard on him, not literally. He chuckled to himself before knocking three times on his door.  
  
“Come in,” Lu Han did. “Oh, it’s you. Have a seat.”  
  
Lu Han hardly ever felt threatened or intimidated by people, so he wasn’t really worried about having to deal with the chief; he was more worried about losing his job on the first day. It’d taken him a lot of effort to pass the internship test.  
  
“Since I was worried you’d slept in on your first day, I checked the news. You didn’t lie; there was an accident on the main road here from where you live, so it was blocked until 10 minutes before you came into the E.R.” Yifan told him. “I will let you go this once, but if you’re late again, I won’t listen to your reasons. Doctors have to be available at any time of day, and always on time” he looked at Lu Han expectantly.  
  
“Yes, chief. I won’t be late again.”  
  
Yifan nodded, satisfied, “you may leave.”  
  
As he walked out of the room, he saw Sehun walking towards the stairs that led to the rooftop. Against his every principle, he followed him, partly because he was curious, but mostly because whatever Sehun did there, Lu Han could use to his benefit later.  
  
“This has got to be a nightmare,” Lu Han saw Sehun pinch himself. “Why am I not waking up, huh? What could I have possibly done so wrong that now you are punishing me this badly, huh? HUH!?” he screamed at what Lu Han supposed was the sky.  
  
“I still remember a very poorly made pork belly; that might help you start your list of things you’ve just not excelled at,” Sehun turned around bewildered, only to scowl at Lu Han.  
  
“Did you follow me?”  
  
Lu Han snorted, as if it was his second nature, “I don’t make the same mistakes twice, Hunnie.” With that, he smirked at Sehun and turned on his heels, going back into the building, very aware of having lied and used an old pet name to just to rile Sehun up.  
  
  
**March 12.**  
  
  
Lu Han chewed on the last bite of his lunch absentmindedly, determined to not think about how his day had started off so horribly. His alarm had went off, but he’d hit snooze for the following thirty minutes while still asleep. Then, he’d had to explain himself to the chief, which hadn’t gone exactly well.  
  
_“You’re late? Again?” the chief yelled before breathing deeply, what for, Lu Han didn’t know; the screaming resumed when he laid eyes on Lu Han once again. “What happened now?”_  
  
_What scared Lu Han this time wasn’t the chief, but the way he had no explanation to his lateness whatsoever. He’d been five minutes late and he knew it wouldn’t go unnoticed._  
  
_“I have no excuse, chief,” Lu Han sighed._  
  
_“Come to my office right now,” Yifan levelled a stare to the rest of the team. “And you, go get something to do unless you want to join Lu Han,” Yifan told them, voice tight, before walking in the direction of his office, Lu Han in tow._  
  
_”You,” Yifan’s voice was icy, “who on earth do you think you are? The rest of your team got here on time. I, who could get here at noon if I so willed, was here on time.” He shook his head before looking at Lu Han intently, “why should I not fire you? Please tell me, because I can’t really find a reason not to.”_  
  
_Lu Han gulped. He knew Yifan was right and he had nothing to say._  
  
_“I’m sorry?”_  
  
_“You’re asking me? Then let me ask you something as well, why are you here?” Lu Han stared at him, lips quivering, unsure of what Yifan meant with that question. Yifan ploughed on at the lack of an answer, “a person like you has no right, no talent and definitely not the right attitude to become a doctor, so why are you here?”_  
  
  
It’d taken Lu Han by surprise to hear such words, it was as if Yifan knew what to say to get him right where it hurt most, but he was set to do his best and not waste this miraculous second chance he’d been given. He wasn’t one to give up easily anyway.  
  
He looked up in time to see Sehun and Junmyeon sit on the table in front of his. He could hear their conversation and it took everything he had in him not to roll his eyes at them; he had a feeling it somehow would be audible.  
  
“I must be going crazy,” he snorted.  
  
It wasn’t that he cared what Sehun did or didn’t do, but they were divorced for a reason. Even if they were working together –in the same team, not together–, he’d figured they could at least not see each other during lunch break. Apparently, Sehun didn’t think the same.  
  
“Seriously, I love rock music, I really do!” he heard Sehun say.  
  
Lu Han was not convinced; Sehun could rap Epik High’s and Verbal Jint’s discographies entirely, but the closest thing to rock he seemed to listen to was Nell and maybe a few CNBLUE songs. That couldn’t have changed in so little time. Lu Han chuckled; didn’t Sehun know lying to make someone like him wouldn’t work?  
  
“Dumb as ever,” he mumbled to himself as he walked out of the food court of the hospital.  
  
  
Sehun made a promise to himself to bother Lu Han as much as he could. He knew telling him to quit would result in Lu Han being stubborn and staying even if he was fired, even if it meant he had to beg and lose whatever was left of his dignity.  
  
“Doctor!” A man exclaimed just as Sehun walked past the waiting room. “Doctor, I’ve been waiting for someone to give me some painkillers, I have somewhere to be in a half hour, but I can’t go because it hurts.”  
  
Sehun hummed. “Where does it hurt?” He suspected appendicitis straight way; the man was clutching his lower abdomen and seemed to be making a big effort not to show how much it was actually hurting.  
  
“Here,” he signalled to his right side, “but I suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, the only medication that works for me is Paradeine, can’t you just give me a couple tablets?”  
  
“Sure. Can I see your prescription first?”  
  
The patient sighed, “I don’t have it with me right now, I wasn’t aware I’d ran out of pills, so I left it at home,” he explained.  
  
“Then no, I don’t think I can help you, sorry,” he was being careful, if this man in front of him was a junkie, he was more than likely to make a scene.  
  
“For fucks sake, kid,” he said, his face still polite and composed, but his eyes and voice were almost threatening, “it’s just a pill. If you can’t give me it, then call your supervisor, I want to speak to them. Maybe they’ll understand; I think you deserve a good scolding. I hate useless doctors like you,” the man finished.  
  
His face was so serene, Sehun thought that maybe his expression was like this due to Botox; he had a handsome face, which looked natural, but that level of beauty was rarely natural nowadays. He didn’t want to deal with the chief before he had the chance to digest his lunch, though.  
  
“Okay, okay. I will give you one pill, but you will have to wait,” Sehun grumbled.  
  
Lu Han watched Sehun go before walking in the direction of the chief’s office, hoping to find him there and get him to the patient before Sehun, so he could get a good scolding. Lu Han was aware of how low he was going to stoop, but he figured that, if he tilted his head in the right angle, it would help Sehun in the long run; he only cared about dicking around with Sehun’s mood for a bit, anyway.  
  
He knocked two times before going into the room, Yifan looked up, “I never said you could come in,” Lu Han rolled his eyes, since Yifan’s eyes were already back on the report he was reading.  
  
“I’m aware. However, I think you need to come, and come quickly,” Yifan sighed heavily.  
  
“Is there an emergency? I’m busy, in case you’ve not noticed,” Lu Han was on the verge of screaming, not sure whether he wanted to do so in frustration or just to the person in front of him.  
  
“We do work in an emergency room, though. But the thing is, there is a patient asking for Paradeine and one intern has gone to get one without being showed a prescription”.  
  
Yifan stood up and promptly tripped over his own feet; he glared at his shoes. Lu Han would swear he saw a blush somewhere there, too. They walked to the emergency room while Lu Han wished there would come a day when he and Yifan were close enough that he could tease him about this. Sehun was already walking towards the man’s temporary bed. Yifan sprinted towards them, but stopped cold when the patient turned to face Sehun.  
  
“Yixing?” Yifan’s voice was so low and full of something akin to _surprise_ and _warmth_ , it startled both Lu Han and Sehun.  
  
The patient, _Yixing_ , apparently, turned to smile at the chief, “hi, Yifan, or should I call you ‘chief’, too?” he chuckled, “long time no see and all that, are you not going to talk to me at all?” Yifan turned around, walking back to his office. “I’ll talk to you later,” Yixing told Sehun before following Yifan, still smiling.  
  
  
**March 25.**  
  
  
“I think the chief and Dr. Zhang are dating,” Jongdae whispered as he and Sehun checked in a patient.  
  
“Why do you say that?” Sehun replied, mentally agreeing. He would not admit to that, though; it was none of his business.  
  
“He’s the only one who ever talks and _smiles_ when chief’s around. Not even the rest of the residents act like that around him,” he finished wrapping a piece of gauze around the patient’s wrist as Sehun did the same to his left ankle, “you are lucky,” Jongdae told the patient, “your wrist is twisted, and you can’t walk for the next four weeks, but we both know you could have cracked your skull open. It must have been a nasty fall,” the patient nodded apologetically and thanked both doctors for their help.  
  
When they got to the lockers to change into cleaner scrubs, Jongdae picked up their earlier conversation again.  
  
“I don’t know. Lu Han seems to get along with the chief just fine. Maybe it’s a Chinese thing.”  
  
Sehun rolled his eyes at him, “I don’t know, Lu Han seems so dodgy, don’t you think?” he asked nonchalantly as he held the door open for Jongdae.  
  
“Remember when we had to do an emergency practice and I got paired up with him? I was a bit apprehensive at first, but he worked flawlessly. I think he’s just really kept to himself,” was all Jongdae said. Sehun sighed heavily, how could all of them ignore how horrible Lu Han was?  
  
“If you say so.”  
  
  
“Jongdae, Sehun!” Chanyeol hollered as soon as they walked into the waiting room, eyes frantic, “we need to hurry, there are three ambulances getting here in less than three minutes, apparently there was an attempted robbery downtown, the burglar got nervous and shoot three people and then tried to kill himself, but the police shot him down before he had the chance.”  
  
They walked to the entrance where an ambulance was already parking, paramedics quickly hopping off it to open the back door and carefully easing a patient out. Baekhyun and Junmyeon were already pushing the stretcher into the hospital and then one of the cubicles designated for emergency surgeries. Chanyeol and Jongdae took care of the next patient, who seemed to be conscious, since she was in a wheelchair. Sehun vaguely noted she seemed distressed before the next ambulance pulled up and he noticed he had no one else to pair up with but Lu Han. He did not have half the mind to whine about this turnout of events.  
  
Unluckily for them, this one was knocked out, shirt soaked with blood, cut in half to show a bullet wound on the right side of his chest, a little under the collarbone. That would be a very fun thing to treat, really.  
  
Sehun pushed the stretcher, while Lu Han raced to their cubicle to get things ready. A nurse and a resident –Lu Han recognised him as Minseok– walked in seconds after him, Sehun following suit.  
  
“Choi Seunghyun, born in 1987; victim. He’s unconscious, his blood pressure is low and the bleeding has lessened, but we need to take the bullet out,” Sehun explained to the others as Lu Han handed him a pair of gloves; his already gloved hands touched Sehun’s gloveless ones briefly, making him flinch before swiftly putting them on.  
  
“Have you removed a bullet before?” Minseok asked them grabbing a clamp; both Sehun and Lu Han shook their heads, “all right, please soak a cotton wool in antiseptic and clean the wound area,” Lu Han did as Minseok said, wiping the area clean.  
  
“Right,” Minseok continued, “you need someone to watch in case there’s a haemorrhage,” he signalled Sehun to stand by his side, “then, if it’s visible enough, you insert the clamp, and take it out,” Lu Han held out a small tray in Minseok’s direction; he dropped the bullet there.  
  
“You _have_ stitched up someone before, right?” He eyed them.  
  
“Yeah, I did just earlier, I’ll do it again,” Sehun replied.  
  
Minseok nodded, telling them to call him if anything happened _to the wound_ , and then left.  
  
Lu Han was already setting himself up to stitch the wound, “I said I would do it, move,” Sehun said stubbornly.  
  
“Please,” Lu Han stayed put, rolling his eyes at Sehun while sitting himself on the stool previously occupied by Minseok.  
  
“Lu Han, move. I will do it,” the nurse still standing in the room with them snickered on her way out. Lu Han really hated that Sehun was so childish when he wanted to be. He scoffed.  
  
“You couldn’t even sew a button on a shirt, but alright. It’s your responsibility starting from here,” he said handing Sehun the instruments.  
  
Sehun glared at him even when he turned his back and crouched down to grab more supplements for the rest of the superficial wounds the patient had on his arms. However, when Sehun’s gaze followed Lu Han’s figure bending over, he did not expect to see his trousers riding down to let a _red lace garter_ into view, and he would swear on his life that the small red and black see-through thong underneath it didn’t arouse him in the slightest. A million flashbacks went through his mind and it felt like he’d been slapped and forced into watching and old film of his and Lu Han’s times together. The pang of jealousy he felt at the thought of Lu Han dressing like that for _someone else_ surprised Sehun; it had been their thing, anyway.  
  
Lu Han stood back up, Sehun coughed awkwardly when he realised he’d been staring instead of stitching up the still unconscious patient. “You _still_ haven’t done that? What are you waiting for, the patient to bleed to death?” Lu Han sighed, walking around the patient and completely ignoring Sehun’s drooling figure.  
  
Sehun cleared his throat and put his hands to work. This would be a long session.  
  
  
**April 9.**  
  
  
The locker room –which was miraculously devoid of other interns whenever they were there– was full of noise. Lu Han was trying his best to ignore all of them, but it was impossible.  
  
“You okay there?” he heard Junmyeon ask him.  
  
After a month of getting eyes rolled at and snide remarks whenever he walked past his co-workers, they were finally warming up to him. Of course, Junmyeon had been the first one to talk to him, but it had been to remind him that he better stop coming in late because no one wanted a bad grade when it was only his fault. Then, he’d become just close enough to at least sit with him at lunch sometimes. Lu Han didn’t trust him that much, though. He was friends with Sehun, and Lu Han wanted nothing to do with Sehun or people around him.  
  
“Yeah, it’s just a bit noisy.”  
  
Lu Han kept trying to tune them out, but it proved to be impossible; he would have to hurry if he wanted a little bit of peace.  
  
“My hips hurt a lot, though, really,” he heard Chanyeol complain to Jongdae, who snickered.  
  
“You must have _worked_ a lot last night,” he replied, bursting out laughing when Baekhyun walked into the room with a barely noticeable limp. Lu Han couldn’t help but giggle a little to himself as Baekhyun sat carefully beside him to get out of his shoes and into his crocs. For some unknown reason, Lu Han thought Baekhyun would be a nice friend. He saw him stand up, not missing the death glare he sent to both Chanyeol and Jongdae.  
  
“Hey, Sehun. Hurry up!” He yelled in the direction of the showers.  
  
A few seconds later, the water was turned off. Lu Han was not ready, however, to see Sehun walking out of the bathroom with only the lower half of his scrubs on. He _had_ seen all there was to see of him, except now Sehun was sporting some incredible abs, broader shoulders and amazing triceps; he was subtly built and the fact had Lu Han swallowing thickly.  
  
“You’re not hot, Sehun. Cover yourself, there are straight men here,” Chanyeol mock-chided him.  
  
“Chanyeol,” Sehun answered softly, “I don’t think anyone is straight in this room,” he said eyeing Lu Han as if he knew he’d just drooled looking at him shirtless, “and, you know, just because you top, doesn’t mean you’re straight.”  
  
Jongdae howled with laughter telling both Chanyeol and Baekhyun how ‘Sehun was one of them’. Even Junmyeon was laughing, but Chanyeol didn’t seem bothered by Sehun’s words in the slightest.  
  
“Alright, well, since we’re all here and we still have at least three minutes before our shift, Yeol and I are inviting you to our new home tonight,” Baekhyun explained, grinning.  
  
“As you know, we’re practically a married couple, so, since we’ve both finished our school years, we decided it was as good a time as any to move in together,” he concluded, looking at Chanyeol, who was smiling proudly back at him.  
  
Lu Han was closing his locker and just about to leave unannounced when Baekhyun shouted in his direction, “you’re invited as well, Lu Han.”  
  
Lu Han turned around and smiled at him, “sure, text me the address and I’ll be there.”  
  
  
  
The clock read half ten when a kid was brought to the E.R.; she was at least 8 years old and seemed lost. The paramedics told Sehun she didn’t speak any Korean, making him wonder how a parent would be so reckless to leave a kid alone in a foreign country.  
  
“One of our men knows a bit of Chinese, she said that she’s indeed from China, and she’s 7 years old,” a paramedic informed him before walking back to the ambulance.  
  
Sehun had studied Chinese when he and Lu Han were together, but he had never learnt enough to say he was fluent, so he couldn’t really do much; he needed someone who spoke it. He thought of asking Zitao for help, but he’d overheard there was a meeting with the residents and specialists, which meant chief Wu and Dr. Zhang weren’t available either. He knew Jongdae could speak Chinese, but he was nowhere in sight. He decided to tell the little girl to wait a moment –or at least that’s what he thought he’d said–, and went to get him.  
  
He checked everywhere before thinking of the locker room and the common room. There was no one in the locker room, but from outside he made out a figure sitting in the common room. “Finally,” he huffed, opening the door to let himself in.  
  
“Goddamn, Kim Jong– you’re not Jongdae,” Sehun said flatly, face morphing into an indifferent mask.  
  
Lu Han snorted, “whoa, you sure are sharp sighted,” he kept writing down some instructions on a sheet.  
  
“Whatever. I need your help, I can’t find Jongdae and I need someone who speaks Chinese,” he waited for Lu Han to answer, but continued when he didn’t, “there’s a little Chinese girl in the E.R. and I think you know well enough I’m mostly Korean.”  
  
Lu Han finished writing quickly, eyes not once leaving his work, “like that’s an excuse, I think Jongdae is perfectly Korean, but he speaks Chinese, and so does Minseok, but well. Guess it’s not surprising coming from you.”  
  
Sehun didn’t say anything, he knew Lu Han just wanted him to say something so that he could make Sehun look even more stupid. It was humiliating enough that he was asking Lu Han for help.  
  
They found the girl sitting in the middle of the bed, Sehun wasn’t sure if he should leave her to Lu Han or just use him as a translator, so he stayed with them, if anything, to watch in case Lu Han fucked up. Sehun watched him fuss quietly around the girl, talking to her as he checked her vitals and asked her short questions. By the end of the check-up, the girl –he heard her say her name was Qian– was giggling while Lu Han stuck his tongue out at her. Sehun knew he was great with kids but he hadn’t had many chances to see him in action before, and the sight in front of him warmed his heart before he knew it.  
  
“We need to contact her sister; she says she’s here on a holiday trip, and that she got lost after following her out of the house.” Sehun only nodded, still dazed.  
  
“Will you be okay if I leave her with you, then?”  
  
Lu Han looked at him quizzically, but didn’t question him. Instead, he replied, “better than if _I_ leave her with _you_ , I reckon. Just go check on other patients or something.”  
  
Sehun didn’t miss Lu Han’s jab, he just was too stunned to react to it. The bitterness and hurt were still there, but Lu Han’s actions with the kid had triggered some of Sehun’s wildest old dreams. He remembered how they’d talked about adopting kids the same way they’d got married: in a different country. He then felt really stupid for letting himself think of all those fake words and promises, when the person he wanted that with no longer existed.  
  
  
At a quarter past 6 p.m., Lu Han wasn’t sure he wanted to go to Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s housewarming party. It was nice of them to invite him, but he felt like he wouldn’t fit at all, and while he was willing to spend more time with his co-workers outside of work, he _really_ didn’t want to see Sehun. It was a silly thing, but he reasoned it was best to stay away since he was starting to feel weird around Sehun. He blamed it all on seeing him shirtless in the morning, but he knew he wasn’t going to fool himself with that, when those weird feelings had been present much before that.  
  
Standing in the front entrance of the hospital, someone patted his arm, “thank you very much, Dr. Lu,” a cute little voice said in Chinese, followed by the same words said by a woman a few years younger than him.  
  
“Oh, are you Qian’s sister? I thought we wouldn’t be able to reach you today,” he told her, she smiled shyly.  
  
“I’m sorry, I must look like a very irresponsible adult right now,” Lu Han shook his head no.  
  
“Mistakes happen, it’s all fine now, isn’t it?” he told her while smiling down at Qian, “take care, Qian! Don’t go outside by yourself again, okay?” She nodded and grinned at him.  
  
“I promise, bye Dr. Lu!”  
  
Lu Han smiled to himself as he watched them walk away; it was then that he decided he’d specialise in paediatrics. Kids could be a handful, but Lu Han loved working with them. He still had time to change his mind, although he was sure he would not.  
  
“What are you doing here so lonely?”  
  
A smiling Yixing asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts in time to see a very serious Yifan standing beside him. One brief look down let him see their hands were twined.  
  
“I was having a moment of realisation,” Yixing hummed, amused.  
  
“Are you going somewhere, then? We’re going for some drinks at a bar nearby, want to join?”  
  
_And be the third wheel? Nope_ , he thought.  
  
“Actually, two teammates invited me and other interns to their house tonight; I was just waiting so I could be fashionably late.”  
  
Yifan raised an eyebrow, “they all hated you a month ago, did you put happy pills in their drinks?” He asked. Yixing hit him softly.  
  
“You’re very tactless for a doctor. We might as well start calling you House,” he said fondly in Yifan’s direction, before turning to wink at Lu Han.  
  
“Anyway,” he continued, “have fun tonight, then! Don’t drink much, and we’ll see you tomorrow.”  
  
Lu Han sighed for the umpteenth time that day, before checking his phone for Baekhyun’s address.  
  
  
The block of flats at which he arrived was a place he was not sure he thought existed. It wasn’t like there weren’t incredible buildings all around Seoul, but Lu Han could have never imagined attending a small reunion at such a luxurious place. He didn’t know what else he was expecting, when he’d clearly seen the ‘Gangnam district’ when Baekhyun texted him. He called Baekhyun but it was Chanyeol who answered, telling him he’d be right there.  
  
The inside of the flat was even more drama-like, Lu Han thought, it was just so _spacious_ , beautifully decorated and at the same time quite simple, yet it looked well lived in, despite being recently bought.  
  
“Wow, who decorated this place?” He asked in awe, looking between Chanyeol and Baekhyun, before the latter smiled at him and left the room.  
  
“Both of us, actually. I picked the palette colour while Baekhyun picked the furniture, then we organised everything together,” Chanyeol explained as he filled a glass of wine for Lu Han.  
  
“You two did such a good job,” Lu Han’s voice was full of nostalgia.  
  
Junmyeon, Jongdae, Sehun and Baekhyun sat on the floor around a small coffee table when he and Chanyeol entered the room, “Lu Han’s here guys, I think we can order take out now.”  
  
“What would you like to eat? Chanyeol and I will pay and even put things on plates so it looks like we cooked exactly what you wanted for you.”  
  
They all started discussing what was best and ended up picking at least five different main plates. By the looks of it, Lu Han was almost completely sure both Chanyeol and Baekhyun were loaded, but he wouldn’t ask; he knew from experience some people were rich and very touchy about that particular subject.  
  
“So, when are you going to get married then? I feel like I’ve been waiting all my life… oh, _wait_ ,” Jongdae quipped, raising an eyebrow at his friends.  
  
“We will the day you finally admit you’re _not bisexual_ ,” Baekhyun counter attacked, smiling smugly when Jongdae shut up.  
  
“Seriously, though, how long have you been dating for?” A curious looking Junmyeon inquired.  
  
“For about… 7 years? I think, yes.” Baekhyun replied, “we’ve never really paid attention to anniversaries, but we started dating right before my 17th birthday, and I’m about to turn 24, so… yeah, 7 years,” he remarked, looking at Chanyeol before Junmyeon nodded.  
  
“You must love each other a lot, I wish the best of luck to you.”  
  
Lu Han was pretty sure he wasn’t feeling well today. Listening to Baekhyun had made him somewhat jealous. He had always dreamt of finding _the one_ and spending his life with whoever that person was, but at his almost 27 years of life, he was positive he’d given up those childish dreams. After the mess his marriage with Sehun had been, he’d decided his job was now his lover, and if he thought about it long enough, he could believe he was happy with that arrangement.  
  
Sehun, who had stayed quiet the whole time, asked, “so, when did you meet? And how did you start dating, how did you know you wouldn’t hurt each other or your friends and families?”  
  
Lu Han looked up just in time to see that Sehun was looking at him instead of the couple.  
  
“We met when we were 9, the three of us, actually,” Baekhyun started, pointing a finger at a silent Jongdae, “but Yeol and I’s relationship was a bit weird from the beginning, I think? It was silent...” he trailed off, “I honestly don’t know how to describe it, we were just very good friends, always there for each other, no matter what; we were kind of like a couple even when we were too young to even consider liking people _that way_ ,” he chuckled, a little flustered.  
  
“Yeah, we trusted each other so much even at such young age. We had our major gay freak out at 15 and 16 each, and instead of beating around the bush, we just talked to each other about it, that was when we knew we wouldn’t hurt each other, at least not on purpose,” Chanyeol finished Baekhyun’s story.  
  
The doorbell rang and they all stood to their feet, focusing more on helping with the food and _eating_ than listening to their hosts’ love story.  
  
The kitchen was big enough to fit the six of them, so everyone got at least two plates and, “why do you have so many plates when you’re only two people? Don’t tell me you’ll be the South Korean, gay Brangelina,” Jongdae joked, then remembered, “ah, no, sorry, that’ll be Sehun and his future husband.”  
  
Lu Han’s teeth clenched and he was sure his breathing could be heard from the opposite side of the room. He tried to calm himself down by fitting as much food as he could on one plate.  
  
He did an amazing job ignoring whatever they said after that; he and Sehun were divorced for a reason, and Lu Han did not appreciate those bouts of warmth or jealousy that appeared at the worst moments and for the wrong reasons. He found himself sat opposite Sehun, with Chanyeol and Jongdae on each side; it would have been hilarious weren’t it for Sehun being the person in front of him.  
  
“So, Lu Han,” Baekhyun addressed him, “I wanted to apologise, on behalf of our team, because we were rude to you during our first weeks,” Lu Han was perplexed, “I hope you understand we were all on our nerves because of the team grading and stuff. You’ve proved everyone you’re more than a sleepy person, and a regular doctor,” Baekhyun finished; everyone sans Sehun nodded their agreement.  
  
“It’s okay,” he replied numbly, “I would have done the same, but I’m glad you now know I’m capable enough, and I hope we become better as people, doctors, and colleagues in the future” he managed to say, looking at Baekhyun and then around him.  
  
Junmyeon was openly grinning at him and it was sincere, and Chanyeol was wrapping an arm around his shoulder to squeeze him softly.  
  
  
“So, I’m really curious now that my stomach is full of food and fine wine,” Chanyeol said hours later, “at least Junmyeon and Lu Han who are the eldest here, are you not planning to get married?”  
  
Lu Han, who was subtly tipsy, choked on his mouthful of wine. Junmyeon, on the other hand, chanced a shy glance in Jongdae’s slumbering figure’s direction.  
  
“I do, I just haven’t found the right person yet,” he said, slightly slurring his words.  
  
Jongdae and Baekhyun were already passed out, while Chanyeol was trying his best not to fall asleep, and Junmyeon seemed the most sober out of the bunch. Lu Han attributed that to him drinking the same glass of wine since they sat down for dinner, and it bothered him that there was someone more sober than himself, but it also made him feel really smug to see Sehun fighting against sleep almost as hard as Chanyeol was.  
  
“What about you, Lu Han?”  
  
It was Sehun who asked, and it made Lu Han want to punch him, but he was not about to admit he’d been married before, much less to such idiot.  
  
“Me?” He chuckled devilishly, “oh, I admit I’m a bit young to play the bachelor, but you know what? I’m not going to rush it,” both Chanyeol and Sehun sobered up a little bit, mostly Sehun, who looked like he wanted to out Lu Han right then and there.  
  
He would have if it weren’t for the fact that he was one half of the ex-couple.  
  
Chanyeol asked to elaborate, so Lu Han continued, “I once dated someone and I thought they were the one, right? Yeah, bit silly of me. You just can’t trust people to handle your heart with care when they’re much younger than you,” Sehun’s face was red; Lu Han knew he wasn’t ashamed as much as furious.  
  
“You can’t just put a load of your own shit on someone else’s shoulders, though.”  
  
Lu Han, who looked confronted, “if you can’t confide your deepest feelings to that person, are they really the right one?”  
  
Junmyeon hummed at that, “yeah, Lu Han is right. If I’m dating someone, I expect them to be understanding of that dark side of me,” he reached across the table to pat Lu Han’s left shoulder twice.  
  
He smiled sweetly at Junmyeon before turning to smirk at Sehun; Chanyeol had long fallen asleep somewhere between Sehun’s question and Lu Han’s answer.  
  
However, Sehun seemed to disagree with both of them. “But that’s because you just know one side of the story, what if you were going out with someone older and you tried your best to be the best for them, but they often reminded you how you wouldn’t understand many things because of your age?” He finished, looking at Junmyeon’s face expectantly.  
  
This time it was Lu Han who was seething, who the hell did Sehun think he was to say all those things?  
  
“Ah, that would be very unfortunate, yes,” Junmyeon started, apparently oblivious to the truth hiding behind their words; Lu Han didn’t know if he was glad about it or not. “I don’t know, both sides would be at fault, in that case. They would need to talk and avoid bickering at all cost.”  
  
A few minutes later, Junmyeon excused himself, saying he was a mama’s boy and had to go home; it was 12 a.m. sharp and he and Lu Han were the only ones awake.  
  
“Sure you don’t want me to drop you off at your house?”  
  
Lu Han really didn’t want to go there, though, so he politely declined and walked Junmyeon to the lift doors, bidding him farewell as Junmyeon told him he’d see him later.  
  
Back in the flat, he woke up a bleary-eyed Baekhyun; mostly to ask him where to sleep. He instructed Lu Han, there were two empty rooms with beds and that the extra pillows and duvets were in each room’s wardrobes.  
  
“Okay, have a good night!” He told Baekhyun as he saw him wake Chanyeol up to walk to their room.  
  
Lu Han walked to the loveseat where Jongdae was sprawled in what seemed a very uncomfortable position. He poked his arm, probably harder than necessary.  
  
“Hey, Jongdae,” the man in question blinked awake, “hey. Uh, Baekhyun told me there are two empty rooms, go to sleep in one of them,” Jongdae nodded before getting up on his feet.  
  
Lu Han was just about to go find the second room when he saw Sehun curled up on the floor; it wasn’t that he’d forgot about him, he was just doing a marvellous job of ignoring his existence.  
  
A strange –and very uncomfortable– feeling tugged at his heart; it was a cute sight and Lu Han hated himself for even thinking that way. Sighing heavily, he bent over to shake Sehun awake, but he got no response. He wondered what his reasons for helping Sehun were, settling for the classic ‘I wasn’t going to let a colleague sleep in the floor’. “You’ve really gone crazy, haven’t you, Lu Han?” He said to no one in particular.  
  
“Hey, Sehun, Sehun wake up,” Lu Han shook him again, “ugh, you’re still an annoyingly heavy sleeper, wake up or I’ll leave you sleeping here on the floor without remorse,” Sehun stirred slightly but Lu Han knew he wasn’t awake; he’d gone through this at least four times a week for three years. “OH SEHUN! Get. The fuck. Up!” He yelled with little to no finesse, he was sleepy and it was well past midnight, and they all had to go into the hospital in less than six hours.  
  
“Why are you causing such a ruckus?” Sehun asked groggily, eyes unfocused and still drunk.  
  
“Because I’m nice enough to wake you up so you can sleep in a bed, like a normal person,” was all Lu Han told him before walking off in the direction of the hallway; he could hear Sehun’s uneven footsteps behind him. “Jongdae is in one of the rooms, you should sleep with him,” Lu Han said almost conversationally; to say he was wired would’ve been a complete understatement.  
  
“Why don’t _you_ sleep with him?” Sehun slurred more than said, getting on Lu Han’s nerves with speed.  
  
“Because I’m older than you both and because you two are friends.”  
  
Sehun hummed as he walked past Lu Han and into the second empty room, throwing himself carelessly on the bed. Lu Han entered the room as well, folding his jumper and unbuckling his belt. He sat on the empty side of the bed, elbows pressed against his thighs, head buried in his hands. Sighing after what felt like hours, he turned around to wake Sehun up again, except Sehun was awake, looking at him in his drunken stupor.  
  
“Sehun, please leave. I need to rest in order to go to work tomorrow.”  
  
Nevertheless, Sehun didn’t reply or move, and Lu Han’s patience was wearing thin. He wanted to be alone or at least _not_ with Sehun. He grabbed a pillow and tried to get up. Tried, because as soon as his hands dipped the bed to push himself upright, Sehun grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back down on the bed.  
  
“What are you doing?” Lu Han hissed, “I’m tired and I want to sleep, Sehun, leave me alone.”  
  
“Why don’t you stay here? There’s plenty of room for us to sleep comfortably.”  
  
“Oh, I don’t know, Sehun. It might be the fact that I hate you, but it could also be the fact that we’re divorced and the last thing I want is to share a bed with you.”  
  
Lu Han was angry, but he didn’t know why exactly. Was it because Sehun’s offer was completely ridiculous yet highly tempting? Or was it because he felt like he was close to losing it? His heart wanted to take so much, but his mind knew that there were only cons, because the pros had long ago ran out. What was Sehun trying to do, anyway?  
  
However, it was the heart who won the metaphorical battle, and Lu Han ended up giving in to Sehun’s request. He knew deep down those feelings he’d once had for the younger man beside him were stirring up, readying themselves to surface at the wrong time in a probably near future.  
  
He fell asleep at 20 past two, exhausted from all the things he’d felt the day before and in the last two hours; his brain not sure if the arms wrapping around his middle were real or a figment of his imagination.

 

 **April 18.**  
  
  
Since the night he and Lu Han slept together at Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s, Sehun had been feeling even more awkward than before. The only thing that could mildly relieve him was to see Lu Han acting so carefully around him, too; as if he was determined to not even look at Sehun. So, when Sehun saw him walk in with a chatty Yixing that morning, he decided he’d make Lu Han _talk_ to him.  
  
“Good morning, Sehun.”  
  
Yixing smiled at him. Sehun could still not understand how someone so bright and overall _nice_ was dating someone like the chief. It wasn’t that the chief was a bad person, as he had proved himself to be very clumsy and actually kind-hearted –Sehun had seen him with kids twice and it was all it took for him to realise Yifan did, in fact, have a heart–, it was just that they were complete opposites.  
  
“Good morning, Dr. Zhang.”  
  
Lu Han caught Yixing’s attention again as the lift doors opened to reveal it was already full. Yixing pushed Lu Han in, and then Sehun felt himself being pushed into the lift as well. Thinking Yixing was doing this to fit himself, Sehun was waiting for another solid body to press itself against Sehun’s back, but instead he only felt the metallic doors trying to close behind him.  
  
To the other people inside the lift, it was a mundane thing, but Sehun couldn’t stop himself from thinking how he was pinning Lu Han against the wall, and just as he thought that, Lu Han turned around, looking up at Sehun’s face.  
  
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He hissed, furiously pushing Sehun away from him to no avail. Sehun didn’t want to reply, knowing his brain was solely working on not getting aroused –to no avail as well–.  
  
He couldn’t not get worked up when he had Lu Han’s chest pressed against his and Sehun could feel Lu Han’s breath falling against his cheek, jaw, and neck, though.  
  
“I’m trying to save us both some awkward physical contact. Don’t bitch at me, it was Dr. Zhang who pushed me. I wouldn’t have chosen to be so close to you.”  
  
“Says the one who was completely off his face and back hugged me in bed over a week ago.”  
  
Sehun had no retort to that, the lift doors luckily opened on the ground floor of the building. He quickly got out of it and sprinted painfully in the direction of the locker room to get a quick, cold shower. Even with his sharp words, Lu Han’s breath on Sehun’s skin and their proximity had had an effect in Sehun’s pants. Sehun angrily thought it was not fair how Lu Han could still have this effect on him.  
  
  
“It seems like the Oh boy has the hots for you, am I wrong?”  
  
Lu Han looked at Yixing, trying his best to swallow and not choke on his lunch.  
  
“Why would you say such a thing?”  
  
Yixing chuckled, “I think a better question would be ‘what are you two doing?’ or better yet, ‘what are you two hiding?’”  
  
Lu Han sighed. He idly wondered when the hell had he and Yixing become so close, when all he’d wished for was to befriend the chief so he could laugh at his clumsiness whenever. Since his stay in Seoul, he’d not made that many friends, mostly because medical school was expensive enough to leave a hole in his paycheque every now and then, and he couldn’t afford partying or a social life at all.  
  
How he’d met Sehun, that had been a different story; one he always remembered fondly, no matter how bad it had ended. He had met many other Chinese people as well, but never trusted them enough, but with Yixing it was the first time he’d felt like he could trust without being judged.  
  
“Can I be honest?” He asked Yixing, “I mean, really, completely, naked-level honest?” Yixing’s nod was short but firm, as if to let Lu Han know he was going to be serious for as long as he talked about whatever he was about to talk.  
  
“Alright. Truth is... Sehun and I were married. We got divorced a little over a year ago and… do you reckon it possible to fall again for the same person?”  
  
He was pale and looked nervous and about to faint. Yixing pushed his watermelon juice towards him, motioning for him to drink it. His face showed no disgust or surprise and Lu Han wondered what was he thinking as he took a small sip, unsure of being capable of drinking more without puking.  
  
“Do you think you’re falling for him again?”  
  
“Well. The physical attraction is still there, and I mean, who wouldn’t be physically attracted to _that_. But I still don’t want to, because I was already there and it didn’t end well. I don’t want to do it again, even if it’s different this time around, what if it isn’t?”  
  
“What if it is? So, if you practised CPR on a patient and said patient died, does it mean won’t ever do CPR again?”  
  
“No, but how can you compare that?”  
  
“Because it’s the same in a way, Lu Han. Of course it’s not like one of you or both will die, but does it mean you’ll stop trying to love another person, even if it’s someone you already know, because of a past failure? You can’t just hold on to the bad times.”  
  
All Lu Han could hear was Yixing’s soothing voice and a bit of white noise. He hadn’t often considered loving a person that wasn’t Sehun, because it hurt too much to think of getting hurt a second time, and if he was being honest with himself, because Sehun had been his everything and he’d taken everything with him the moment he left their shared place –which was now only Lu Han’s place.  
  
“Wouldn’t you?”  
  
“I didn’t,” Yixing smiled brightly at him, “circumstances weren’t the same, I know, but I loved enough to forgive and to see it had been my fault, too. I tried again, and it’s been worth it for this short time we’ve had. It wasn’t like we continued what we had before, because we’ve both changed a lot. So have you and Sehun, you just need to be more open; starting again might give better results this time around.”  
  
“It will mean one of you will be the loser for loving more than the other, and by being the loser, you’ll learn how love runs deeper the second time. You don’t get to fall in love twice for the wrong reasons; if anything, you’ll learn loads,” Yixing finished around a mouthful of salad.  
  
“I’m still not sure if I want to do that, though.”  
  
Yixing didn’t say anything else, choosing to eat tranquilly. Lu Han, on the other and, was having flashbacks. He remembered the time Sehun proposed, which he would always find incredibly cheesy, yet perfect, and the time Sehun grabbed the suit Lu Han wore on his wedding day and threw it in the garbage bin. He thought of the times Sehun would cook for him, even when they had finals to study for, the times he fondly laughed at Lu Han’s attempts at food while also reading a book full of terminologies, which would always end up with them ordering Japanese takeout and falling asleep on the books after filling their stomachs.  
  
It hadn’t been always bad, and the realisation hit Lu Han harder than it should have; he didn’t want to think that way of Sehun when he’d hurt him so badly. But Yixing was right, too, he’d been at fault as well, whether it was Sehun’s fault that he’d made mistakes, those were his mistakes too, and he had to man up and admit to them.  
  
  
_”All interns from the E.R. please finish up what you’re doing and then come to the common room.”_  
  
It’d been Yifan’s voice booming through the speakers as Lu Han and Sehun removed some stitches out of a teenager’s leg.  
  
“You should go to rehab so you can get back the full strength of your leg again,” Sehun suggested.  
  
“I will; my father would kill me if I didn’t. According to him, I’m the next Messi so I’m pretty sure he’s signed me up for something like that.”  
  
Lu Han gasped, scandalised, “Messi? Nope. That guy’s kind of lame, and he was an ass when Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup final. You should aspire to be like Ibrahimović, _that_ is a real player.”  
  
“Don’t let him hear that, he will make you stitch me back up so I can go see a different doctor,” the patient told Lu Han. “Thank you, Doctor Lu, and you too, Doctor Oh. You’re cool doctors.”  
  
Sehun’s smile was big as he walked beside Lu Han to the common room. Lu Han liked seeing that face in public, Sehun would rarely let it show; he reserved it for when he was alone or at home. Lu Han never understood that very much.  
  
He hadn’t realised he was smiling too until they opened the door to the common room to find out Jongdae, Junmyeon, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were already there with Yixing, Zitao and Yifan, only waiting for them and perhaps Minseok.  
  
“Look how cute those lovebirds look!”  
  
Sehun’s death glare towards Jongdae was enough to make the others shut up before they even had the chance to tease them any further.  
  
“Alright, you’ll try nasogastric tube insertions today, since I think most of you haven’t intubated anyone before, am I right?” Yifan asked.  
  
“Lu Han and I have,” Sehun replied, voice cold, face serious, and Lu Han wanted to hit Jongdae for wiping Sehun’s smile off his face. He then mentally hit himself for being so defensive over _Sehun’s happiness_.  
  
“You’re still doing this practice, but since you’ve done it before, you’ll practice with each other,” Yixing explained and Lu Han didn’t miss the way his hand touched Yifan’s arm as if asking him to agree.  
  
“The rest of you, pair up. Yixing will make an example by intubating Zitao, please do pay attention.”  
  
All of them sat quietly as Zitao pulled a chair to the centre of the semicircle they’d formed, his face contorted, probably knowing how unpleasant this would be. Yifan snickered when he saw him, outright laughing when Zitao glared at him.  
  
“You’ll get a headache if you keep glaring like that.”  
  
Zitao just rolled his eyes at Yifan, sitting upright on the chair as Yixing moved a small cart to his side while checking the kit was complete. He positioned himself in front of Zitao and put on a pair of non-sterile gloves.  
  
“First, if possible, you should make your patient sit upright; it will help the alignment of the neck and the stomach, then you should check their nostrils, in case there’s an obstruction and to check which side is in better condition for the tube to go through. You should also lubricate the tube, of course. You don’t want to hurt your patient.”  
  
Yifan poured a glass of water and placed it on the cart, “you forgot this.”  
  
“Shit, yes. Sorry,” he replied softly, before turning to the interns and saying, “you can’t forget to pour a glass of water before starting, alright? Some patients don’t need it, but some do. Also, a little bit of xylocaine sprayed at the back of the throat and the nostrils would work wonders for the patient, keep in mind this procedure is highly unpleasant.”  
  
“Why didn’t you do that to Zitao, though?”  
  
“I don’t think that’s necessary for him, his nostril might feel uncomfortable, but his throat muscles are _well_ worked out,” Yifan snorted while Zitao cursed Yixing’s subtlety. Sehun felt like he would burst out laughing at any moment.  
  
“Right, when you’ve done all this, you can start your intubation. You should instruct your patient to swallow as the tube goes down the pharynx and oesophagus, hence the water; small sips should help. Rotate the tube in case there’s resistance, unless there’s a change in the patient’s respiratory status, in which case you should just remove it completely.”  
  
Zitao choked a little, but swallowed the tube down, grimacing a lot. Lu Han felt for him, it did seem like a very uncomfortable thing to do voluntarily; he wondered how much blackmailing information Yifan had of Tao.  
  
“We’re not going to take gastric samples today, but you shouldn’t need to practise for that; for a stomach cleanse, you just attach the syringe and apply suction. The last step is to secure the tube with a tube holder or just a bit of tape, and you’re done! Now that you’ve seen it, you have to do it yourselves. Pair up, you’ll all get a tube down your throat so don’t fight over who’s going to get intubated and who isn’t.”  
  
Lu Han sighed heavily, going for the cart first, placing it carefully beside Sehun, who poured the glass of water and held it in his hand as he waited for Lu Han to get ready. Lu Han was surprised to see Sehun complying so easily, but didn’t say anything about it, opting to work fast but carefully. He didn’t get it on the first try, making Sehun arch and cough a little.  
  
“That fucking hurt, Lu Han!”  
  
Lu Han laughed at Sehun, apologising between muffled cackles. He calmed down and held Sehun’s face softly; drawing invisible lines with his thumb on his cheek, soothing him keep him calm. He got it right on the second try and Sehun cheered him for it, completely unaware of the seven pair of eyes focused solely on them.  
  
  
A few hours later, a short, wide-eyed man walked into the E.R. with a taller, tan-skinned man leaning on his shoulders. Baekhyun and Lu Han, who had been talking about another patient who had yet to be diagnosed, took sight of them and rushed to help them.  
  
“Oh, god. Thanks, he’s really heavy.”  
  
“What happened to him?” Baekhyun asked as the sick man mumbled how ‘he was not heavy’, and that ‘it was fibre’.  
  
“He’s had a high temperature for the past two days. He had refused to come here, but he collapsed on top of me earlier, not in the way I would have liked him to.”  
  
“Any other symptoms?”  
  
“He’s complained about headaches, his muscles being in pain, and he also has a bit of a rash.”  
  
“Well that’s not common, but not unheard of. Let’s place him in a bed first so we can get him properly checked,” Lu Han suggested, “have you got insurance?”  
  
“Yeah, he’s insured. Would be nice if we could use our joint insurance but ah, this is not America.”  
  
Baekhyun hummed, “so I’m guessing you’re his husband.”  
  
“Whoa, Baekhyun, if you’d not say that, I wouldn’t have realised. It’s not like they’re wearing matching wedding bands or anything.”  
  
The husband of the patient laughed a bit.  
  
“Alright, we’re going to get him checked up. Go to that station you see there and fill out all the paperwork they tell you to. Please read the fine print.”  
  
  
Baekhyun was already laying the patient down on a small bed by the time Lu Han finished talking to the other man, so when he finally faced the patient, he visibly paled. How fate could be so cruel, he didn’t know, but he did know he had to get Sehun quickly. Kim Jongin, Sehun’s half-older brother was lying there in front of him, and Lu Han knew that as soon as he opened his eyes and saw him, he’d ask for his brother and their marriage. Jongin had been out of South Korea for at least two years, and had stopped communicating with Sehun completely a few months later.  
  
“Hey Baekhyun, I have a patient to check but I’m sure Sehun can help you with this one,” Lu Han tried.  
  
“Sehun was busy in the common room before I came here and I doubt he’s free now. This guy’s not a hard one, don’t worry.”  
  
Lu Han sighed; he knew Baekhyun would do something like that, which meant he knew there was something up with this patient and Lu Han.  
  
“I’m done with the questionnaire about our private life,” the husband said as he came back to the bed were his feverish husband lied. “My name is Do Kyungsoo and he’s Kim Jongin, here,” he handed Baekhyun Jongin’s story.  
  
He and Lu Han discussed illnesses that could lead to those symptoms, as Lu Han mentally prayed for Jongin to not recognise his voice, nor open his eyes.  
  
“Have you been outside Korea recently?” He asked Kyungsoo, who nodded.  
  
“Yeah, we just came back from Brazil three days ago, why?”  
  
Baekhyun hummed as he finally understood what was going on. Lu Han released a breath of relief.  
  
“He’s most likely got dengue. It is a common disease from tropical places, and you’ve been in a tropical place in the past week. We have to run a few tests for protocol, but he’ll just need some rehydration and to rest for a bit. Are you his only next of kin?”  
  
Kyungsoo hesitated, “he’s got a younger brother, but I don’t really know him, or how to contact him.”  
  
“In that case, you’ll have to wait till we run the tests and you can’t leave the hospital until then. We’ll bring him back soon.”  
  
  
Jongin had had to stay overnight in the eventuality of his disease morphing into haemorrhagic. Kyungsoo had stayed with him all night, checking up on him and nursing his fever away. Chanyeol had been on shift during the night and so he’d kept an eye on the couple, telling Baekhyun in the morning how he expected him to take care of him when he got sick, to which Baekhyun only replied with a roll of his eyes and a ‘as if I’d never done that before’.  
  
Lu Han felt a little less scared of facing Jongin today, but he still took precautions and didn’t check up on him.  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me Jongin was here?” Sehun hissed, grabbing him by the arm; but there was no strength in his hold.  
  
“I was probably too busy freaking out about him seeing me and asking about you and our marriage.”  
  
For some reason, seeing Sehun angry with him for such a petty reason made Lu Han get worked up too. This had been one of the many reasons for their divorce: Sehun could always and would always find a way to blame him for things he couldn’t help. It wasn’t his obligation to call Sehun because Jongin was there, was it?  
  
“You’re always too busy trying to hide that, as if it were wrong to get a divorce. I know it is in the society we live in, but so is being gay and let me tell you, marrying another man in a foreign country isn’t very heterosexual, Lu Han.”  
  
“What are you trying to tell me? Should I just inform everyone that we’re a failure, an experiment that didn’t go well, and then tell them they’re right hating other people’s nature?”  
  
“No. You just shouldn’t waste so much time trying to hide something that will someday come to light anyway.”  
  
Sehun left the locker room even angrier than he’d entered it, while Lu Han had actually felt _hurt_ by Sehun’s words. Did he not care about other people finding out he was divorced? Then Lu Han wouldn’t care either.  
  
Ten minutes later he found himself checking on some patients from the day before, Jongin two beds away from where he stood at that moment. He was joined by a very tired-looking Baekhyun, while he could see Junmyeon and Jongdae talking to other patients a few beds away, no Sehun in sight.  
  
When they got to Jongin’s bed Lu Han realised he hadn’t seen Sehun working because he was there, with Jongin, talking.  
  
“Is this why you told me to call Sehun yesterday?”  
  
Baekhyun was looking at him expectantly, not sure of what was going on. It was Jongin who made a face and talked loud enough for everyone else to hear.  
  
“Holy shit, Lu Han! I was asking Sehun about you,” he began, “how did you not tell me it was you yesterday? And why did you divorce my brother? I trusted you to take care of him; you promised you’d cherish him and whatnot. You know, your love was always stronger than even those days prior to the finals, we all know those are more prone to put a couple through a crisis; that was when I knew you were unbreakable.”  
  
Lu Han felt like he couldn’t breathe. At least Sehun had the decency to look apologetic.  
  
“Hi, Jongin,” he laughed nervously, “I was hoping we wouldn’t cause this scene so that’s why I didn’t say it was me yesterday, probably.”  
  
At this point, Jongdae and Junmyeon were standing in front of Jongin’s bed listening in. Lu Han wanted to crawl under a rock and never come back up again.  
  
“Get well soon, yeah? Then we can talk, I swear.”  
  
Jongin seemed to understand.  
  
“Alright, _brother_. See you soon, you should go work and continue to be the amazing super doctor you probably are.”  
  
Lu Han nodded and even laughed a little; he found it funny how Jongin would suck up to Lu Han and then treat Sehun like a commoner. Then he remembered everyone had seen that, and worried the patients would hate him and Sehun, but luckily, no one was giving them dirty glares; in fact, no one was even looking.  
  
  
**April 29.**  
  
  
April 29 found them tangled together in bed. A week before, Lu Han would have sworn on his life that this wouldn’t happen ever again, because they were both grown up, _divorced_ men who knew how to control themselves. But then again, it had been a long time coming; he’d known that since that day on the rooftop, where he’d teased Sehun.  
  
Of course, a night of enough alcohol to kill a Rottweiler and delicious drunk sex wouldn’t patch up things between them at all, but like all couple fights, reconciliation sex was a good way to start working things out.  
  
Sehun stirred slightly before holding Lu Han even closer, if possible, leaving kisses on his head and forehead as Lu Han pretended to still be asleep. He knew Sehun knew he was awake, but it felt nice to be held like this. It had been a while, and Lu Han was too blissed out to deny he’d missed _this_ , he’d missed Sehun and the way his arms felt around him, and the warmth his body radiated.  
  
“You think we can start over, then.”  
  
Sehun’s voice was raspy and laced with sleep. They both knew they’d have to hurry in order to be on time if they stayed in bed like this. Lu Han hummed in response, nuzzling against Sehun’s neck, wrapping himself a bit more against him.  
  
“It would only work if you stopped being a baby about everything, but I guess I can make an effort too. Jongin’s words hit a chord, I won’t lie.”  
  
Sehun chuckled, “yeah, he’s sappy like that. That’s why he got a husband who cringes at the sound of the L word.”  
  
“I didn’t know he didn’t like lesbians, though. I only talked to him about Jongin’s medical story.”  
  
“Lu Han, that was the unfunniest thing you’ve said in your life.”  
  
“The funniest one being ‘yes’ when you proposed, right?”  
  
“Shut up.”  
  
“I’m waiting for you to do that, with your gross morning breath and all.”  
  
Sehun rolled his eyes before grabbing his chin and planting a sweet close-mouthed kiss on Lu Han’s lips.  
  
It would be difficult, especially when there were so many things to talk about, so many feelings that had been buried deep, and so many things left unsaid. It would be difficult to try again when both people had already hurt each other with words once. It would be difficult to find a balance between their respective neuroses, their jobs, and their personal life, but in the end, they reasoned it was better to try than to wonder what would have happened. Their feelings had always been one of a kind and it would have been a mistake to let them go to waste, when some people never got to experience love in their lives, and they’d been granted a miracle by falling in love twice.  
  
They had a hard road ahead of them, but as Sehun held Lu Han’s hand under the covers, they knew they would be able to face it.


End file.
